Expression of interest Community hubs

Who we are

Community Hubs Australia

Community Hubs Australia is a not-for-profit organisation that provides assistance to migrants, refugees, international students and other temporary migrants. Our priority is to help build greater connections and social cohesion.

The National Community Hubs Program

Community Hubs work with permanent
and temporary migrants and humanitarian entrants, whether they arrived in Australia last month or last decade. Hubs focus on engaging with and supporting migrant and refugee women with pre-school children, who are among Australia’s most vulnerable and isolated residents.

Hubs bridge the gap between migrant women and the wider community, giving them the best chance of achieving positive settlement outcomes. Independent evaluations indicate that Community Hubs significantly increase the uptake of services among migrant families. They serve as the vital ‘missing link’ in the service delivery chain, providing family friendly gateways linking migrants with their school, local services and each other. Hubs have opened up access pathways that are changing the way service providers do business.

The National Community Hubs Program is resourced through one of Australia’s biggest partnerships between the philanthropic sector and federal, state and local governments. The Australian Government Department of Social Services is the primary funder of the program.

Testimonials

The Hub has helped us achieve getting families with pre-school kids involved with the school community and the Hub. At the interviews this year we noticed the difference in the children, who have had no other intervention outside the Hub, but now have developed their skills just through attending regular playgroup. The playgroup has allowed us to identify families who benefit from support to transition to school as well as the special needs of children before they start school, such as speech pathologists. This means we can be prepared for the New Year.

Celestine Boundy – Principal, St Paul’s Catholic School, QLD

When our kids are getting ready for school in the morning, they’re seeing their parents get ready for work or training too. Our previous adult education classes didn’t work well because they weren’t part of a pathway to further training or employment. So we made our hub into a community learning space.
We formed a partnership with Banksia Gardens Community Services to work with individual families and deliver tailored training courses. When you’re establishing a hub everything you do needs to be predicated on and linked to learning and you have to draw a ring around that. It’s about education not welfare.

Valerie Karaitiana, Principal – Dallas Brooks Primary School, VIC

We have women who may be full-time mums or working part time have a space to come together and develop life skills and build social connections. It’s great. The school has been very open to having community come in and we get a community learning space that is flexible and supportive. Even the playroom downstairs, you don’t pay, you just come in. It’s more about giving people that opportunity to meet other people but also give their child the opportunity to develop social skills.